Different products are used by parents to aid in the positioning of their children to facilitate feeding them from the time the child is an infant until the child is old enough and large enough to sit at a table properly. One such product is a high chair, which is typically used to support infants and small toddlers at an elevated position so that the caregiver can easily feed the child. Another such product is a booster seat that is typically attached in a detachable manner to a standard chair so that the child is elevated on the chair to reach a normal table. Booster seats are typically used with older toddlers.
The high chair is a self-standing unit that provides a safe and secure seating area with a feeding tray that is removable from the high chair to facilitate the placement of the child on the high chair and to facilitate the cleaning of the tray and high chair structure. High chairs can incorporate height adjustment mechanism so that the seat can be vertically positioned to fit various table heights so that the tray mechanism could be removed from the high chair and the child positioned on the high chair be pushed up to a table. The booster seats typically attach to the standard chair with one or two adjustable straps so that the booster seat can be removed when no longer in use. The typical booster seat positions the child about three or four inches above the chair seat to locate the child at the table. Some booster seats are provided with height adjustment to fit various table heights. Some booster seats are adapted to receive a tray mechanism so that the booster seat can be utilized away from the table.
Although office chairs and other similar devices have long incorporated a swivel feature and/or a tilt feature combined with a height adjustment feature, child high chairs have traditionally been manufactured as a fixed structure with a base on which is mounted a fixed chair member for the seating of the child with the tray selectively positionable in front of the child. An example of an office chair having a chair tilt mechanism combined with a height adjustment feature can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,244,253, granted to Geoffrey Hollington, et al on Sep. 14, 1993, in which the rotatably mounted office chair incorporates a gas spring in a pedestal structure for the seat base with an actuation lever that is operable to release the gas spring to permit expansion thereof and a resulting vertical movement of the seat member.
The use of gas springs in a pedestal structure to provide a height adjustment feature is not limited to office furniture. In U.S. Pat. No. 7,185,949, granted to Rebecca Finell on Mar. 6, 2007, incorporates a wheeled base formed into an upwardly extending pedestal structure within which is supported a gas spring that is connected to the seat member. A vertical height adjustment of the seat member is accomplished through the manipulation of a foot pedal that releases the gas spring in a conventional manner to permit the vertical movement of the high chair seat. This high chair structure does not incorporate a swivel feature for the seat member as rotational movement of the high chair can be accomplished through a rotation of the wheeled base, which incorporates an arresting feature to limit the movement of the wheeled base structure.
Chairs or seats are known to incorporate a swivel feature. A swivel seat for use in a vehicle, such as a farm tractor or a combine, for example, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,354, issued on Jan. 9, 1996, to Dennis Gryp in which the selected rotated position of the seat is controlled through a rack mechanism that is cooperable with an actuation lever to secure the position of the seat by engaging a notch in the toothed rack with the actuation lever. Similarly, the tractor seat in U.S. Pat. No. 5,733,006, issued to Perry Woods on Mar. 31, 1998, is positionally controlled by a stop pin engagable through aligned holes in the seat member and the base member, with the actuation mechanism being positionable in a free swivel mode of operation.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,361,111, granted on Mar. 26, 2002, to Daniel Bowers, et al, the seat member of a powered personal mobility vehicle is pivotally mounted for movement through substantially a 180 degree range of movement to permit the operator to rotate the seat member ninety degrees from a central operating position for ease of ingress and egress to the seat member. This seat member incorporates a notched disk affixed to the base member. The actuation lever can be pivotally manipulated to selectively place a stop member into engagement with the notched disk to secure the seat member in the selected rotated position.
The high chair disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,032,966, granted to Peter Myers on Apr. 25, 2006, includes a base stand that can incorporate a turn table mechanism that provides a rotational function for the high chair seat member. The turn table mechanism incorporates a series of notches around the circumference thereof. A spring-loaded latch mechanism is engagable with the notches around the circumference of the turn table mechanism to restrain the rotated position of the high chair seat member. As is seen in FIGS. 11-16 of the Myers patent, the turn table mechanism is a substantial structural part of the seat member that also incorporates a tilt function for the seat member.
It would be desirable to provide a high chair structure that will provide a swivel feature that can be actuated conveniently by the caregiver to position the high chair seat member at a desired rotated position relative to the base member, while incorporating a high adjustment feature for the seat member.